Stalking Vigilantes
by d4nte
Summary: Taylor Hebert triggered just a bit earlier. With a new shard. Being friends with Shadow Stalker is harder than it seems... (In Haitus Hell)
1. Chapter 1

I stood on the roof of a dilapidated building. My teammate, Shadow Stalker, standing next to her. The two of us, fourteen year old vigilantes, teamed together in order to protect ourselves, despite whatever, Shadow Stalker thought. It was always dangerous being a lone wolf vigilante in the harsh city of Brockton Bay. And we have each other's backs. It's not just because we unmasked in front of each other, it's also because of the number of times where we would have each other's backs.

I, otherwise known as Vigil under my cape name, frowned as I saw a drug deal go on between an E88 fence and a panicked looking person. In my eyes, they're both guilty. Nothing more, nothing less. It's illegal regardless of whatever pitiful reasoning that the two have in their head. Triggering her tac visor, I saw no one else within the visual area or any disturbances. The only footsteps lead to the pair and the only gun discharges within the area are days old.

"Activate your tac visor." I simply told Sophia while taking out a ball that looks like a lumpy balloon. "Caustic gas incoming."

"Finally." the hunter growled as she cocked her makeshift crossbows. "I've been waiting for something to happen. All we've been doing was watching these weaklings."

"Yes." I impatiently repeated from all of our previous runs, "However, we're most likely fodder compared to many of the more big-name villainous capes."

"Hmmph." Sophia responded, "If you actually tried, then you could defeat them. Your tinkertech can blast holes through concrete. Like that Kraber sniper rifle you showed me."

The Kraber was a super powerful kinetic sniper rifle that I created one day and was excited enough to show her with it by using it in the Boat Graveyard. It could puncture all the shields that I could create and pretty much vaporize one's head by the sheer kinetic force of the bullet. Indeed an anti-Brute weapon for the most part.

"Yes," I stated blandly. We had this argument so many times. I never used the guns that I store in my basement. After all, I don't have a gun license nor do I want to accidentally kill someone and get arrested. It was only a matter of coincidence that the two of ours beliefs barely coincided with each other. If you squint at it. I only relied on my gadgets, and they do enough of the work. And that's that. "Can we focus on the drug deal?"

"Yeah. yeah." Shadow Stalker breathes under her breath. "Throw the damn 'nade."

I triggered the mechanism of the gas grenade and dunked it into the alley way. Luckily, this was one of the prototypes of the grenade, or "ultimate"of an entity that I dubbed as Caustic. The blueprints owing to that branch appears to be always leaning to a more deadlier gas: something that melts, something that burns, something that kills.

I held the more…. Primitive version of it. After all, I don't want to be labelled as a villain, despite how villainous the pair of us' get-ups are. The PRT was aware of our existence, seeing as I forced Sophia to get the both of us to talk to the Protectorate in order to allow the Cape team stationed here to know of us.

"Arghh!" I hear the two cry out as they most likely feel their eyeballs and mouth burn from the corrosive elements that are in the gas. The tac visor started to quietly whine as two bright green highlights of bent over men appeared within my field of vision, courtesy of the taggers sealed within the canister. Sophia shot the drug dealer in the hand, the miniaturized arc star attached to the bolt triggering and electrocuting him.

I threw my own arc star and stuck it on him, causing it to explode and taze him. He fell down like a sack of potatoes. I brandished two pairs of plastic handcuffs and threw one at Sophia along with a syringe.

"Cuff him and heal him." I say as I handcuff the man I stunned that is currently seizing on the ground. He'll be fine.

The both of us lied the cursing men by the wall.

"Hmmph. I wish something interesting would happen." Sophia remarked as she looked up at the night sky before fumbling through her disposable phone. I would know since we brought it seeing as it was dangerous for the police to trace our identities simply through the phone call.

"Careful what you wish for." I humored her as I searched around their pockets for money. What? I needed funding. In addition, there was a vigilante law that allows me to do so. I managed to scrounge up a couple hundred. Splitting the stack, I threw one half at Sophia as she wrapped up the phone call.

"The police are coming." She grunted. "Let's go fight some Nazi fucks."

"No. It's almost 2 A.M." I responded, "I have to actually wake up seeing as my dad sent me to summer camp."

"Can I stay with you?" Sophia asked. She always does, and I always say yes. Her father had died, stuck under the burning rubble of their last apartment building, and her mother became a druggie. Usually, Sophia would throw the money from our vigilante activities at her mother and just stay with me. Not like I'm going to complain. My dad usually doesn't complain.

The two of us climbed back up to the rooftops and we went to my house.

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-0-

* * *

"You're supposed to be home at 12." My father sat by the dining table as he looks at both Sophia and I, "You have to leave for summer camp in 4 hours. I do believe that you enjoy your sleep." He knew about both Sophia and I's…. hobbies. He sort of supports our work as capes, probably not as much owing to the veritable armory that I keep under the house. But, he's terrifying. One does not simply mess with the Dockworker's Associations de-facto leader. Despite him being only the spokesman, he has an intimidating manner of voice, despite appearing more fragile than robust.

"Yes, dad." I squeaked as he stared down at me. Not helping that he has one of my heavy-action pistols by his hip. He keeps it everywhere, owing to the fact that he has a gun license and saw no need to not use it. A fantastic deterrent, he called it. The Wingman, it's called. It was pretty much a more accurate version of a Desert Eagle. High damage. Can rip through the head. An easily concealable weapon. And a very useful sight on it, able to highlight people in red within its gaze. Something that I would never want pointed at me. Sophia would never mistake him as "prey" or something of the like. Especially after watching his marksmanship.

"You two should probably go and sleep." He says as he stands up, "It's extremely late and I'm sure that your contributed quite a bit to decriming of the city."

"Okay, Mr. Hebert." Sophia acquiesced as she started to walk upstairs almost lazily. To be fair, it was quite late. Capes as young as we were usually don't patrol past midnight, due to how one's attention flags over time.

The both of us arrived at my room, where there was a table still cluttered with my latest Tinkertech. A grenade launcher that can fire smoke grenades. Technically, it could fire other grenades if I were to modify the grenades to fit and trigger properly, but that was what the blueprints were originally designed with smoke grenades in mind. If it were to work, it should be able to blanket an entire house in a two-dimensional way. Not much rise to it, only enough to block people's vision. It was still insanely effective at obscuring one's sight.

"I'll be seeing you in a week." Sophia says without much interlude. To be honest, she could be extremely blunt at times. "Make sure to contact me with that com-set that you gave me a couple of days ago."

I hope she does. It would probably be maddening if I couldn't tinker with anything for a week. Hopefully I don't just fugue during summer week or else I'll be outed. Not the best way to be found out.

"Yeah." I smiled a bit, watching Sophia scowl a bit before lightening her expression. I wished that Emma was here. The three of us were friends. Well, I was more middle-manning the two. But it worked. I just hope that nothing wrong happened while I was away. "Remember to take whatever med-kits you want from my armory. Just not the guns."

"Fine. Fine." She answered as she finally donned her pajamas, something that she left from last night. "Good night."

"Good night." I say as I turn off the light.

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-0-

* * *

**Oh. Ummm, surprise? To be honest, I still have writer's block. So I rushedly wrote this out of nowhere. I don't even know why I thought this was a good idea, but whatever. Plot bunny 'tis Plot Bunny. Have a nice weekend.**

**Tata!**


	2. Chapter 2

"Hmph. So Emma triggered?" I folded my arms as both her and Sophia looked at me. We were in my basement, surrounded by my many deadly implements of death.

"Yes. Did you think she was weak?" Sophia scowled as she stared at me.

"No." I simply responded, "I didn't think she would ever be in danger."

"Bah," Sophia spat, "Didn't you get yours after encountering a bunch of merchants after your mother's death?"

Wow. Just wow.

"That's a low blow." No cape ever talks about trigger events. It's an implicit taboo that was almost part of the Unwritten rules, but not.

"So?" Sophia asked, with Emma nodding along like a lost puppy.

"Sigh. What the fuck did Emma undergo?" I asked as I finally decided to point out the barely disguised trauma within her eyes, "And what did she trigger with?"

"Shit if I know." Sophia said, "She was being assaulted by ABB gang members, I shot them up. But her powers are confusing. She just sees lights in people's heads, even through fucking walls, and she also has some kind of…. Advanced healing. Maybe some enhanced strength."

"Interesting." I mused, "Who has the lights?"

"You and Sophia." Emma responded, "Not your dad though."

I immediately knew what it was. That's bad. Really bad.

"Crap," I remarked as I froze still, "Capes without morals will no doubt try to imprison or murder her."

"Why? Why me?" Emma started to hyperventilate before I gave her a paper bag to breathe into.

"Just breathe, Emma. Breathe." I patted her back as I looked at Sophia, "She's a Cape detector."

"Oh." Sophia replied, "That is bad."

"Don't mention it to people," I instructed Emma, "Only talk about your regenerative capabilities."

This was going to become more difficult. At the very least, another pair of eyes are always helpful in a tiny Cape team such as ours.

"Well," I continued, "Let's just suit up for Emma's first night, unless you don't want to do it."

"No. No. I want to beat some asian ass." She scowled and shivered simultaneously at that statement. Eurghh, she's experiencing PTSD. Well then, nothing better than just beating some criminals up for therapy. It's not like the law necessarily cares about them, they have Panacea for that.

"Here's a visor and a black suit." I threw her the two objects which she hurried to grab, "On the plus side, with your power, we can see if Capes are around." I then turned around and searched the armory before grabbing a grapple gun and some arc stars, unactivated, at her. She shrieked in surprise as she watched it fall to the ground. Right.

I grabbed a wrist watch, some more caustic grenades, a suit for my own, and more arc stars. One can never go wrong with more taser shurikens. I fanned them out before stuffing them into the custom holder that was fitted onto the belt of my costume.

"We'll get you a costume of your own." I assuage Emma as she looked at the suit with distaste.

"Let's do this." Shadow Stalker muttered as she fitted the mask into her face, muffling her voice. We took the escape hatch that I had built into the basement. Somehow, my Tinker power allowed me to create one, but I wouldn't complain about it. We crept out into the night.

* * *

-0-

* * *

A loud crunch can be heard as the whimpering of an asian gangster can be heard in the alley way. I winced as Emma snapped the arm of a gangster. It doesn't require much force to snap an arm. All it takes is the proper leverage and snap. This may require a more powerful solution. Once Emma finished crippling the gangsters, I threw out a small drone that started to emit a green light. The damage miraculously healed as the gangsters just stared at me in shock. I then turned it off, right before they fully healed. Still leaving them with microfractures in their arm.

"Don't move." I state as I rut around them pockets. They try to shift around so they can hit me, but the small fractures in their bones made them freeze in pain. 50$. Not much. I took out my prepaid phone and dialed 911.

"911. What's your Emergency?"

"This is Vigil. Reporting in two ABB gangsters."

"We'll be dispatching a police car to your site, will you be willing to remain for comment?"

"No. Have a nice night."

"Sigh. Have a nice night, Vigil."

"We're leaving." I say as the three of us evacuated the site.

"There's a cape quickly approaching us like they're teleporting!" Emma said as she started to fret around. My blood quickly cooled as I realized just who it was. Oni Lee. The only logical choice in Brockton Bay. The right-hand man of Lung and the teleporter. Luckily for us, caustic grenades are very useful.

"Activate Caustic Filter!" I yelled as I noticed a dust clone appear right in front of us with a hand at a grenade. I triggered a grenade and threw it at his face. He blundered a bit at the sudden blinding that the grenade caused and began to raucously cough. The grenade was a hard counter to his own. With him blinded, he has no line of sight to trigger his power. So, arc stars away. I threw a few as Sophia also shot him with a crossbow. It punctured his left arm as he wordlessly howled and started to jog. Unfortunately for him, the arc star still triggered, paralyzing his legs and causing him to collapse onto the ground. We need a blindfold.

"You have a blindfold?" I asked Sophia and Emma as they both shook their head. Nothing. I preferred not to use anything that I created by my power, including my suit, but I guess that I'll have to. Luckily, I have more scarves. I tore a part of the deep purple scarf and straddled his back in order to force him down. He tried to buck me off but I roughly slapped the scarf over his eyeholes, stunning him for a second and roughly tying it around his mask. . I then removed a metal wire and tied it around his hand. I tugged it more to make sure it stays put, causing some drops of blood to come out. After that, I flipped him over and removed all of his grenades.

"Okay." I said as the gas finally faded. I had finished trussing up his legs as cop cars started to roll up.

"FREEZE!" A cop came out with a pistol out, before realizing he was pointing at me.

"Oh, sorry Vigil." he still pointed the pistol at me, but noted the two gangsters and Oni Lee.

"I see that you have managed to capture your first supervillain." He simply answers as more police started to enter the alley way, grabbing the captured. Luckily for us, there was no one else walking around the street. But I saw a flash of a camera thanks to the Bloodhound function of the visor. I guess the PHO was going to be active with more discussion about us.

"Who is she?" one of the police officers pointed at Emma with his guns as she stared at the barrel with some fear.

"I'm…. " she gulped as she tried to think of a cape name. We did sort of threw her into the deep end with us. "Amazoness! Yes, that."

"Okay, ma'am.." he humored her statement before he continued to write down some things, "And that's Oni Lee?"

"Yes." I answered, "He was coming, most likely to respond to the gang members that we had been _arresting_ over the week.

"That is most likely true." The police officer mused as he frowned before the dashboard of his car, the door was still open, crackled to life, Miss Militia is incoming arriving at your location.

Joy. A Protectorate member. The three of us looked at each other before looking back at the police officer looking at us.

"Are you go-" he was interrupted by a roaring motorbike appearing us.

"Wait a minute," Miss Militia braked her vehicle and walked out of it towards us, "I have something to speak with them about."

That doesn't sound nice. But she's a hero, so we were forced to stand down or else risk being labelled as villains for assaulting a Protectorate Member.

"There has been video evidence of your brutalization during vigilante arrests." She said.

"Wait," I broke in to her statement, "That could've been edited or something."

She just gave me a stern glare, "We have Armsmaster to analyze all evidence taken. The question is how did you heal such damage. We would like to express some wish for either the purchases of the device you used to heal or service of such a striker power. Panacea and multiple thinkers has verified that whatever you did was quite effective, even curing diseases and likely capable of restoring limbs."

Damn. I knew that the syringes and Lifeline drone were capable, but if Panacea say its good, then it really was good. Not that I care about nameless thinkers. She was one of those good capes. Like really good. I wondered whether or not I should use my syringes to heal people, but Sophia talked me out of it. But if I were to mention who made it, then they'll definitely try to grab me for my healing capabilities.

"Sorry, the device used is too restricted in uses for that kind of usage." I responded, much to the heroine's dismay. She sighed before continuing onward.

"Now, you three should be arrested for assault on about 50 accounts," she stated. We all tensed, as she started to wave her hands forward, they were off her weapon.

"Wait!" she says, she quickly looks behind her to see the police finally leave the scene, "Normally, we do. But you three seem to have heroic inclinations, so we'll ignore it as long as you don't deal lasting damage. However, I would recommend that you at least become a Protectorate-associated hero if you don't want to join…. the Wards? Are you underage?" She quickly glanced at our heights in order to puzzle out our age. I was tall for my age. A tad gangly, but that works for my case. She probably only really considered the oldest when offering membership.

I looked at my friends, whose faces were obscured by their masks. I forgot. We huddled together for a small forum.

"So, do we at least associate with the Protectorate?" I ask my teammates and friends.

"It's easy bucks at the very least." Sophia pondered out loud. That was true, there was a stipend for being associated. Not as much as being a Ward or Protectorate Member. But there are less regulations and we get to keep our secret identity. Our masks should be effective enough to distort our identity at the very least, and we get out of a secret entrance, relatively speaking. On top of all that, it was paid directly and not thrown into a college savings account that I doubt I'll ever need. To be honest, any military force would do anything for what I can create.

"It seems to be safer," Emma, no-Amazon, answered. That was also true. With Protectorate association, we're more…. safe because we're recognized as heroes and the Protectorate may use their resources to bail us out.

"Do you have any information regarding Protectorate association?" I asked the gun-wielded hero, who smiled brightly. It honestly caught me off guard.

"Ah, thank you for at least considering it." She replied, she went to her motorbike and popped out a pamphlet and sheaths of paper. "Here are the papers and such. And here's my in-office phone number. Please contact me when you have made a decision." She sounded like a door-to-door salesman.

"Thank you, Miss Militia." I accepted the paper before calling my teammates to retreat. Looking back, I saw her looking at us with a speculative expression on her face.

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-0-

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**So, ironically, I may accidentally invoke a station of canon early, because I probably pissed off Lung to no belief. Now, the E88 are going to attack his claims and yay, gang war. To be honest, Taylor and co, are really only likely to be near the ABB because of the location of their patrol. It's not like E88 are scouting areas, but its more like they never bypassed the invisible borders. Coolio. However, my other question is that someone mentioned adding other Battle Royal technology. **


	3. Chapter 3

I was actually pissed right now. Sophia, no Shadow Stalker, literally staked a man through the lung into the cinderblock wall. Even as an E88 gangster, he shouldn't have been borderline murdered. If I wasn't there, I don't want to even entertain the notion. Obviously, Sophia refused to repent, but there was still that painstakingly long argument we had. She had begrudgingly agreed to just shoot people in non-essential regions.

Anyway, the three of us unanimously decided to "partner" with the Protectorate in order to harness some good rep. Not that we're lacking in any. I had checked the PHO and our team seemed to be popular for our brutal policy. Well, most of the forum.

We had to meet the director. And I was glad that we weren't forced under her legislation. I could feel her gaze already burying down into me judgmentally. Like she deemed me subhuman or something. She probably had an incident with parahumans or someone like me. But then, that leads to the question, why was she leading this branch? Clockblocker once complained about Director Piggot, but he claims that she was "fair". So does she just hates Tinkers? That also can't be right. The Protectorate of this region's star hero was Armsmaster, even if he was declining in popularity.

I had surrendered a Mozambique for Armsmaster to look at, and he seemed surprisingly interested in it. My specialty was only in specialized personal equipment and guns, so why would he even notice something that he could probably create on his own? Meh.

And here I am back in my lab, messing around with an engine. It was a very small part of a huge aircraft. It'll probably never lift off without a fuck-ton of licenses and selling it to the government, but hey, a girl can at least dream and visualize it. The movement beacon that I had hotwired from Pathfinder's and Bloodhound's tech tree whirred for a bit. A cobbled mess that is able to detect anyone entering the bunker that I had formed. The screen briefly flashed Sophia's face before she had decided to smoke herself right in like an edge lord.

"Did you have to do that?" I asked. It was always slightly unnerving seeing a slightly gaseous shadow just appear from nowhere, even under the harsh lights in my lab.

"Yes. Because it is fucking badass." Sophia grinned as Emma just walked in through the door. I hoped she did. The door was reinforced quite a bit, even capable of defying the frankly terrifying version of Caustic's grenade for a short period of time.

I took out a small cubic object and placed it onto the ground. An orange half-sphere flickered into existence as I looked past it at them.

"Can you pass through it in your shadow form?" I asked Sophia as she nodded and gingerly pressed a finger against it. It's not like its electricity. Just photons stuck in suspension via bullshit techno-wizardry. The shadowy finger halted at it. Interesting, so she counted as a projectile while in that form. Oh well.

"Hmm." I paced within it. "Your Thinker power still works through this right?" I asked Emma who nodded in confirmation.

"This would be useful in case Leviathan ever decided to say hello." I half-joked as I tossed the prototype shield inside my to-do box. It joined the gun shield, a miniaturized satellite, speed-stim, and a weird locker transportation system. The missile satellite and locker transport system would've been so useful. An explosion or armory on call, but no. The Simurgh has to exist and ruin it. I mean, I can do it under the cloud layer but then everyone would see it.

"Hey." Emma whispered, snapping me out of my brief reverie, "Lung called us out. He wants to…. duel us."

Oh, that's what I forgot. When we took the only other parahuman of the ABB, it must've pissed off Lung, seeing as it was also a "new" team that achieved it. Someone that he hadn't even acknowledged. Like a lazy predator, he has acknowledged us as a threat.

"That sounds fun." Sophia chuckled with a shark-like grin, "We can beat up the big bad dragon in order to wipe out that fear, Barnes."

"Sure." Emma shakily smiled.

I guessed that it was time to try some new weaponry. Including my arena creation device. It may trap us in with him, but I can reason that we are able to survive him. Even then, I can use my warp hole to get us out and trap him in. Lung's powered by conflict, not by idle action. Easy.

I clapped my hands together, "Okay, we're going to trap him if the duel goes belly-up."

"How?" Sophia asked before I pulled up the arena device.

"With this." I responded, "We'll be trapped until I use my wormhole device to teleport us away, so if it doesn't end well, then he'll be stuck in it."

"How clever.." Sophia replied with a frown before pausing, "Bombs were going off in ABB territory."

"Yes." I simply answered. My dad was worried about it. They weren't that bad compared to the gang wars, seeing as they are isolated incidents. Almost like Oni Lee's bombing runs when he felt like it. Apparently, the ABB felt that exploding things were the only way to attract our attention.

Emma and Sophia left in order to prepare for the conflict against Lung. I was left in the lab, pondering in thought before grabbing a Mastiff Shotgun, one can never be too careful with Lung. And I doubted that he could withstand a good shot with something that can pierce through energy shields like nobody's business.

I decided to not worry my father about it. He was already stressed out over our capture of Oni Lee, and I felt that another cape fight might give him a heart attack or something. Even then, it'll be fine. We have enough precautions. Golden shields; as many stims, and syringes as we can pack up; several healing drones; a couple of guns; a ton of taser shurikens; caustic grenades; heat-seeking visors; and a ton more. There was no way that we could lose.

We snuck out under the waning crescent. We were armed to the teeth in protective and offensive alike. I doubt that Lung wasn't above ambushing us with some parahuman mercenaries or something to surprise us and then take all of the credit. His sense of honor has been warped since his fight with the Leviathan, with his acceptance of rule through terror and terrorist actions. Lung would most likely be in the heart of ABB territory. By the Docks. Why would he go to the trouble looking for us if we're going to come to him? This was most definitely a trap. As we made the long trek over, I decided to keep my visor activated at all times, battery timer be damned. Lung was able to form a gang and a functioning brothel and drug economy not only with brute strength but with an also belligerently strategic mind. He was able to carve out a huge chunk of Brockton Bay even with only 2 parahumans, albeit strong, to deal with the other criminal cape.

"I think I see Lung?" Emma shivered a bit at saying the Dragon of Brockton Bay's name. "But there are two stars…."

"Shit." Sophia groaned, "Of course he hides behind another Cape."

"Only one?" I asked.

"Unless if he's not there."

"Let's approach," I stated as I prepared some of the shurikens. I noticed that the area is built like a makeshift gladiator's pit. One made of scraps and broken walls. And in the middle, there sat Lung. I don't see anyone else.

"Good." His low voice mused out loud as it bounced across the metal walls, lending to a hollow roar. "I see that you are not cowardly. Only foolish."

"And how are we foolish for confronting you?" Sophia challenged his remark with a scowl.

"Exactly." He simply answered. "You're foolish to believe that I would sit and LET YOU BRING THE PRT WITH YOU!"

Shit. The extra parahuman must've been another Protectorate member. Why didn't they assault him then? He roared as he released his rage and he immediately turned into a half-dragon and leaped towards us.

"I'LL RIP YOUR SPINE OUT AND SELL YOUR REMAINS!" He roared before I could hear bullets barking in the night. Oh. Gang members are directly assaulting the Protectorate hero.

The three of us had hastily flung the shurikens but he just batted them aside, causing them to explode uselessly to the side.

He just roared back at us and punched Emma straight in the face, causing her to fly backward. Shit, he isn't holding back at all. I grabbed my dazed friend and trigger a smoke grenade. He burnt it away and then directed it towards us. Fuck.

The flames singed my armor and I could feel my body starting to sweat profusely under the intense heat. I turned on a holographic shield in order to redirect the flames coming right at us. I doubt our personal shields can stand up against such heat for a protracted time. The shield immediately started to fizzle and overheat upon meeting the flames. Shit. I took a mental inventory of what I had. Gun. Gun. Shield. Hologram. Spare visor. What was there that I could use?

The shield finally shattered as the heat finally hit my skin. No no no. Get it off! I tumbled backward as he stalked towards me with a satisfied expression on his draconic face before a crossbow bolt shot him in the eye. In desperation, I finally recalled another object I had.

Grappling Hook! I climbed up to the roof right before the dragon noticed us again. Sophia. Where's she? Looking around, I see that she was still shooting the dragon while shouting obscenities at it. Not helping at all. He increased with conflict.

I threw down a cluster of grenades and the arena cube together down, hoping that the grenades would protect it. He punched them. The grenades exploded ineffectually against his now-titanic claw and the cube bounced against the wall before beeping awake. The laser grid flashed into existence and the orange walls sprang into being. It worked.

"Sophia!" I shouted, "Get out!"

She turned into shadow just as I shot Mastiff right at its face. It removed chunks of his face as he roared in pain. As he clawed his face, I grabbed Sophia by leaping down with Emma in my hands and activated Wraith's void tool. I manufactured it to be cased within a wrist watch. Still a prototype. But right now, it would be saving our asses. The faded and muted existence of the Void greeted us as I zipped through the orange wall and on the other side. We appeared looking at Lung, who was now looking around with a growl. In relief, I stuffed the Mastiff back into the backpack. I could still see wisps of the Void around the corner of my vision. I still needed to contain that so it doesn't spill out. The portal had destabilized and forcibly closed the moment after we left it.

I then saw a glint of a sniper by my peripheral. I grabbed my friends head and forced them down abruptly just as a sniper shot cracked above our head and bounced off the arena shield. What the? The glint disappeared abruptly and we were in our positions before the shot appeared. That was weird. On the bright side, the void wisps are gone.

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**This is akward. So I never posted chapter 2 and I just finished chapter 3... So double update? nteresting. Anyway, midterm time for me, because my university doesn't understand the concept of a midterm and just decided to give one to us every month. Neat. Anyway, something may get posted, I really don't know. What I do know is that people are probably extremely pissed off at me for not even existing for …. 2 weeks? Yeah, that seems to be a long time. Oh well, have a nice week.**

**Tata!**


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